HP BASIC for OpenVMS Version 1.6

HP BASIC for OpenVMS
— REAL data type including:
* SINGLE (6 digits)– VAX FFLOAT, I64 BASIC
uses SFLOAT for computations
* DOUBLE (16 digits)—VAX DFLOAT, Alpha
BASIC uses GFLOAT for computations. I64
BASIC uses TFLOAT for computations
* GFLOAT (15 digits)
* HFLOAT (33 digits)—VAX BASIC only
* SFLOAT (6 digits)—an IEEE data type; Alpha
and I64 BASIC only
* TFLOAT (15 digits)—an IEEE data type; Al-
pha and I64 BASIC only
* XFLOAT (33 digits)—an IEEE data type; Al-
pha and I64 BASIC only
— Packed DECIMAL type supporting up to 31 digits.
— STRING data type, allowing both static (in MAP
or COMMON statements) and dynamic lengths.
— Creation of user-defined named constants through
DECLARE CONSTANT.
— Dynamic record definition and variable allocation
via MAP DYNAMIC.
• VAX BASIC Environment—VAX BASIC only
— RUN command for immediate execution of HP
BASIC programs.
— EDIT command can invoke a user-selected editor
directly.
— HELP for online assistance.
— SEQUENCE command for generating line num-
bers.
— RESEQUENCE command for renumbering pro-
gram lines.
— Direct execution of HP BASIC statements (imme-
diate mode).
— Direct execution of DCL statements.
— Optional line-by-line syntax checking.
— Dynamic linking (LOAD) of separately compiled
HP BASIC modules for use with the RUN com-
mand.
— User-created libraries searched automatically
when using RUN.
• Compile-time directives
— Text inclusion through %INCLUDE, %INCLUDE
%FROM %CDD and %INCLUDE from a text li-
brary
— Conditional compilation (%IF)
— Listing and output control (%NOLIST, %LIST)
— Cross-reference output control (%CROSS)
— Text replacement (%DEFINE)
• EXTERNAL statement allowing access to global vari-
ables, functions, and constants, and allowing data
typing of parameters to aid in minimizing run-time
mismatches.
• Language subsets and subset flaggers for cross sys-
tem development /migration—VAX BASIC only
— Flagger showing feature unavailable on Alpha BA-
SIC
— Flagger showing use of old BASIC-PLUS-2 fea-
ture
• Motif bindings support
• Multiple line statements and multiple statement lines
• Extensive array handling capabilities
— Each array may have up to 32 dimensions.
— Each dimension may specify both a lower and up-
per bound.
— Array bounds can be specified at compile time or
run time.
— Matrix handling statements allow manipulation of
matrices, including matrix multiplication.
• Compatibility with key RSTS/E BASIC-PLUS and
BASIC-PLUS-2 features including:
— ON ERROR GOTO exception handling
— FIELD Statement
— CVT and SWAP% functions
— Virtual arrays
— Selected nonprivileged SYS calls
— Statement modifiers for conditionals and loops
• HP BASIC Translator for OpenVMS Alpha only (see
SPD 64.76.XX)
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